


Aspirin

by dyingpoet



Category: The Outsiders - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 23:45:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14821175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dyingpoet/pseuds/dyingpoet
Summary: For someone who ate and slept very little, Johnny Cade had a very limited experience with being sickA sickfic where it's not about Ponyboy? More likely than you think





	Aspirin

**Author's Note:**

> Yo I wrote this while being sick because I am a Committed Writer

For someone who ate and slept very little, Johnny Cade had a very limited experience with being sick.

He’d seen most of the other guys get sick before. Darry, Soda and Ponyboy usually were taken care of, or as of late, took care of each other. Steve usually whined until Soda dragged him to their house to be taken care of. Two-bit’s mother was a nurse so he would go missing for days if he had a cold, and Dallas usually slinked away and reappeared after about a week looking significantly more sunken and pale than usual. 

Overall, they all had a sense if what to do when they got really sick.

Johnny on the other hand, had no go to plan when something like this, whatever this body aching, head pounding, clammy mess was, happened. 

It felt like someone had dunked him in a bucket of water and burned him at the same time. The sheets around him were drenched in sweat and he whimpered quietly. 

“Fuck.”

It was early enough in the morning that nobody was awake yet though, the house was quiet enough to prove that. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, Johnny took a second to let everything stop spinning before biting his lip and standing up. If he wasn’t so used to biting it down he would have let out a yell, his head hurt that bad. Everything hurt that bad. 

Except when he was really little, he had never gotten so sick that he couldn’t take care of himself, and he didn’t feel like waiting around to see what would happen. So, he gripped the doorjamb and looked out into the living room leading towards the door.

His father was passed out on the couch, which gave him nothing, he could be sleeping all day or up in a minute for all Johnny knew. His mother was nowhere to be seen.

Orienting himself, he let go of the wall and stumbled as quickly as he could for the front door. 

A long time ago he’d learned there were certain planks that squeaked if he stepped on them, and ones that didn’t. Walking in the zigzag pattern usually took some time but it felt like ages by the time he reached the door. Ragged breath escaped him as he slowly twisted the knob and pulled it, the door opening a fraction of an inch. 

Glancing over his shoulder, he watched his father roll over onto his side and pulled it the rest of the way open, out and halfway across the lawn before the muffled groan from inside could reach him.

The sun was too bright though. He barely got past the gate before having to close his eyes and take a breather. Everything was too much, a breeze came through and he’d nearly jumped out of his skin because of the way it felt. Like it was pricking him with a needle and freezing him at the same time. 

A slam sounded from behind him and Johnny forced himself to start walking again.

“No good sonuva…!”

There might have been an ending to the sentence that came out of his father’s mouth but the sound of something breaking, glass it sounded like, drowned it out. Johnny managed to get down the block under the guise of the aftermath. 

The rest of the neighborhood was mostly asleep. It must be before six, maybe even just five, and Johnny actually raised his bare wrist to his face before remembering he’d never in his life owned or worn a watch. When he let his hand drop it sent a tremor up his arm and he became aware that he was shaking up a storm. 

Wrapping his arms around himself, Johnny could hear the voice in the back of his head, in a thick New York accent, telling him to sleep with his jacket and shoes on, in case he needed to get out of somewhere quick.

The shoes he’d remembered, but he got hot before he fell asleep and took the jacket off. It wasn’t even that cold, but he’d broken out in a sweat and everything he had on was sticking to him and it felt like  _ shit _ . 

Best part of it was, he probably looked like a drunk too, stumbling around like he was. Every time he looked up to make sure that he was headed toward the lot instead of the edge of a cliff everything started swimming. And the light still hurt. He really just wanted to curl up and sleep this off.

He was about a block away when everything stopped spinning and started happening very, very fast. Eyes protesting, he’d looked up to cross the street and gotten across when a blinding pain shot through his head. If it hadn’t been for the quiet he would have guessed he  _ had  _ been shot. 

All he remembered after that was the feeling of pavement cutting into his knees and an animalistic yell ringing in his ears

Later he would be told that the yell was his.

* * *

 

“Is he gonna be okay?”

“Yeah, he just caught something s’all.”

“He was screamin’ bloody murder outside.”

Vaguely, Johnny heard people talking around him, taking him a minute to figure out that they were talking about him. Letting his eyes open to slits and feeling the dip of a couch beneath his weight, he used his elbows to try and push himself up off instinct.

“Hey, stay down Johnny,” a soft voice, Soda’s, said before he fully opened his eyes and saw Darry’s hand pushing him back down on the couch. He was at the Curtis’s. It started to come back to him; the leaving and the pain in his head and falling down. Everything still hurt.

“Where’d y’all find me?”

The words tasted bad and sounded worse. His throat felt like someone had shoved a handful of sawdust down it, and everyone, actually  _ everyone  _ staring at him wasn’t helping. Hell, he even saw Dally out of the corner of his eye, lord knew how he’d found out about all this.

Darry cleared this throat and the sound  _ felt _ way too loud and drew out a flinch. The room buzzed with something akin to anger and Darry kneeled down. “You were outside by the lot? D’you remember bein’ there earlier? Fallin’ down?”

Strangely enough he did, vividly. “Yeah.”

“Yeah well we found ya out there this mornin’,” Darry said, “You got a pretty bad fever, hit your head when ya fell too. You’re pretty sick, kid.”

Two-bit nodded from the edge of Johnny’s vision. “Yeah buddy, you’re gonna stay here with me today, lucky you.”

Johnny managed a weak smile and frowned as another bout of shaking overtook him, despite being under one or two blankets he felt frozen. 

His eyes closed of their own volition and there was a general shuffle as the guys got ready to go. Sleep wasn’t coming, but his eyelids felt weighed down and Johnny gave in and listened. 

“Should he be sleepin’ if he has a concussion?”

“We don’t know he’s got one Dally.”

“Still-”

“Just let ‘im sleep, he needs it. You can call down at the DX for Soda if somethin’ happens before I get home.”

“Me and the kid’ll be back from school round three too.”

“We can stay back if ya want Dar…?”

“No, y’all go, I can watch him by myself.”

There was a chorus of ‘Thanks Two-bit’s’ and the chatter got quieter until it was cut off by a slamming door, getting another flinch.

Johnny started to feel heavier and heavier until he’d practically melted into the couch. Pain still radiated through his head but sleep started to take the edge off. 

A hand started carding through his hair and even without being fully conscious he flinched. Someone sighed.

Dallas’s voice came from across the room. “He does that even if he’s asleep?”

Everything was sounding farther away and Johnny couldn’t decipher the tone. The fingers going through his hair were relaxing after the initial shock. Felt nice. 

“I guess,” Two-bit said.

Their voices faded into illegibility and finally became too soft to hear and Johnny let go, body relaxing into the couch as he fell asleep.

* * *

 

A door shutting woke Johnny up the next, soft enough that he could tell someone had tried to be quiet, which was worth something.

This time he remembered where he was, and unlike earlier that day, when he propped himself up on his elbows nobody pushed him back down. Stomach lurching for a moment, he sort of wish someone did.

Dallas was staring at him intently from the recliner and after a few seconds of eye contact, he got up from the chair and sat down on the ground by Johnny’s head. It didn’t make sense but he looked nervous.

“Two ran to his house to get some Aspirin,” he said with a nod toward the bathroom, “They were all out.”

Johnny nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but fell into a coughing fit before anything could get out. Dallas was up in half a second. 

“I’ll get ya some water.”

Johnny nodded through the fit, which went on for a couple more seconds before he could breathe right again. Curling into the side of the couch he pulled one of the old blankets he’d been given tighter around himself and ended up with his knees pressed against his chest in a tight ball when Dallas came back in the room. 

There was a flicker of something in Dallas’s wide eyes when he walked over and sat on the ground, handing the glass to Johnny’s outstretched hand wordlessly before biting at his nails, eyes downcast.

The water felt great, and Johnny managed to get a sip or two down before it started churning in his stomach. Dallas took the glass back without asking. 

Johnny let his head fall to the side, toward Dallas, and he focused on stopping the shivering. They said something in school about why you got cold when you had a fever, but he couldn’t remember it.

He was breathing raggedly as he tried focus on keeping his legs still and for whatever reason there wasn’t a reflexive flinch when Dallas pressed the back of his hand on Johnny’s forehead. It was all he could do to not lean into the touch, actually.

“You’re burning up Johnnycake.”

Johnny nodded slowly and played with the fringe on the blanket before looking back up. Dallas’s eyes were searching his face and he squirmed uncomfortably. “I look that bad, huh Dal?”

Dallas shook his head and knitted his eyebrows together. “Nah, I think you might have a concussion from when you fell, how’s your head?”

It hurt. “Not bad.”

“Yeah, okay.” Dallas rolled his eyes, “Just take some Aspirin when Two gets back, alright?”

There was an edge to his voice and Johnny nodded before becoming very interesting in the fabric of the couch. Dallas was acting weird and he was dizzy even though he was laying down and just as he was about to ask what was wrong the front door opened. 

Two-bit had a bottle of Aspirin and a two liter of ginger ale and he nearly dropped both when he saw Johnny. 

“Hey kid!” he tilted his head to the side as he walked over, replacing Dallas’s spot when he moved back to the recliner. “How’re ya feeling?”

He shook out a few Aspirin and poured a bit of soda into the mostly empty water glass. 

Johnny accepted the pills and gulped them down with a sip of ginger ale. “Been better.”

Two shook his head. “Gotta give me more than that. Cold? Hot? Dying? C’mon.”

Johnny let out a weak chuckle and could’ve sworn he saw Dallas look over at them before he answered. “Cold I guess, everything just sorta,” he gestured vaguely, “hurts.”

Lips pinched together, Two bit nodded. “Yeah that’ll be the fever, I’d give it a day, tops, before it breaks completely. Sorry kiddo.”

He started doing the thing with Johnny’s hair again. “You tired?”

“Yeah.”

“You can go back to sleep then, we’ll still be here when ya wake up.”

He didn’t have to say it twice. A slight groan escaped his lips and Two-bit shifted so that his back was against the couch, his shoulder near Johnny’s head. It was an oddly comforting presence.

* * *

 

Neither Two-bit or Dally was there when he coughed himself awake though. The light was different, brighter, and he held up a hand to shield his eyes.

“Johnny!”

The yell scared him half to death, and by the time he saw Steve smacking the back of Ponyboy’s head he was up and tripping over himself, body protesting to the fast movement. 

Curling into himself he started to feel his knees buckle when Steve cursed and ran over to him, followed by Pony. 

“I gotcha kid, let’s sit back down.” He felt himself, eyes screwed tightly shut, being picked up. A arm under his knees and another on his shoulder blades and back on the couch with a blanket pulled over him a second later. 

His heart had picked up and his lungs weren’t keeping up too well. Pony looked like he’d just hit a dog or something when he opened his eyes though, and Johnny forced his breathing back down and gave him what was hopefully a reassuring look.    
“I’m good Pony,” he said, “S’okay.”

Ponyboy rubbed the back of his neck and nodded. “Okay good. You feelin’ any better than this morning?”

Steve looked up from where he’d been picking up the various blankets and pillows Johnny had thrown off himself and cocked his head to the side. “Yeah, I oughta take your temperature, see if it went down.”

Shifting so he was on his side facing the two of them Johnny rubbed at his eyes. “When’d ya take it before?”

“‘Fore you woke up this morning, it was 103.” Nodding toward the bathroom, Steve told Pony to go find the thermometer, “You look a little better.”

He would have laughed at the idea of looking better if he wasn’t so sore. His hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat, as were his clothes, and lord knew he probably had a bruise from the fall he took that morning. Yeah, he probably looked fantastic.

Pony came back in with the thermometer and Johnny did his best to hold still while Steve took his temperature. No one had ever done that before.

“101.5, not bad.”

For ‘not bad’ Steve sounded awful concerned, and Pony mirrored that quietly. Two-bit had said it would take about a day to break, he sounded sure of himself then, and his mother was a nurse. Yeah, he would be fine. 

Johnny started to kick one of the blankets off when Pony spoke up again.

“Any chance you’re hungry? Thirsty? It’ll help if you can get something down.”

“I’m kinda hungry, I guess-”

“I’ll go make you some toast,” Steve said quickly. He was on his feet before Johnny could say ‘thanks’, and it felt like a knot was twisting in his chest. 

Pony shoved lightly at his shoulder and Johnny looked over at him. “Don’t feel bad, we wanna help.”

A weak sigh.

“Thanks, just not used to it s’all.”

He actually felt worse after saying that, Pony’s gaze had fallen and he was frowning. 

“Hey, I didn’t mean-”

“Nah,” Pony said, “You’ll just gotta get used to it then.”

He looked up, smiling, the knot loosening in his chest.

* * *

 

By the time Darry and Soda got home the sun was almost down and the rest of the gang was there. Johnny was sitting up and weakly sipping at broth that Two-bit had brought from home and heated up. His head still hurt but the soreness had faded quite a bit, and he wasn’t as cold. 

Soda lit up like a Christmas tree when he saw him.

“Hey! Feelin’ better kid?”

He ruffled Johnny’s hair as he walked past him, tossing his DX hat onto the table and yawning pretty big.

Johnny set down the bowl on the side table and nodded. “Yeah, a lot.”

“He’s still sick,” Dallas said from the floor next to the couch, eyes not moving from the TV. He was still being weird but Johnny’d let it go by now.

Darry walked over and felt his forehead, and nodded. “Not as hot as before, it’s passing through you pretty quick, that’s good.” 

Soda climbed over the back of the couch and sat down next to Johnny before kicking off his shoes, nearly hitting Dallas in the head and getting a sharp glare in return. 

Everyone started talking about something or another, all Johnny knew was that it wasn’t about him for the first time today, and guilt started worming back into his chest. Darry had been awful nice to let him stay over and all but he didn’t want to stay too long and get someone else sick. 

He actually managed to get one shoe on and reach for the other before Two-bit looked over and nudged Darry, nodding toward him. “Where ya going Johnny?”

The talking stopped and Johnny let out a weak cough before saying anything. “I don’t want to get any of y’all sick.”

Dallas snorted from the floor and Steve rolled his eyes pretty impressively. 

Darry was the one that spoke up. “You’re not goin’ to buddy, don’t worry about that.”

He started to protest.

“If we cared we wouldn’ta let you stay all day,” Soda said, narrowly dodging a smack from Darry. “Oh he knows what I mean.”

He did, and as much as he still felt bad he got the feeling they’d tie him down before the let him sleep at home or in the lot, so he stayed quiet and took of his shoe, laying back down. “Thanks y’all.”

A chorus of ‘no problem’s’ and waved hands followed and the conversation started back up again. It felt easy and comfortable to hear them all and he ept nearly falling asleep, head jerking forward as he caught himself. 

After the fourth time, Dallas turned his head and spoke quietly. “You can go to sleep Johnnycake.”

He was surprised that Dallas had even noticed him struggling but there was a note of protectiveness in his eyes and it made his heart flutter with happiness for a beat. “Thanks Dal.”

Dallas nodded and gave a half smile before turning back to the TV, the rest of the guys still talking. 

And he didn’t fight it the next time his eyes started to close, just let them and relaxed into the couch and drifted off, surrounded by his family.

**Author's Note:**

> So what's up guys. I can't think properly while writing this so just hmu with those kudos and a comment if you can? They give me power pl e as e


End file.
